Fat Lambs At Record High Price
Fat lambs in Sioux Falls sold as much as $7 higher on Wednesday to reach the highest price on record there. Oldcrops weighing 115-125 pounds made $95.30-101, wet shorn lambs went at $99, and newcrop lambs brought $93.50-99.50.

Staring Contest Dominates Fed Cattle Trade At Midweek
Feedlots and packers were about $2 apart through the Plains at midweek, and neither side showed much inclination to bridge the chasm through late afternoon Wednesday.

Plains Feedlot Sales

Range Sales

Cape Mohair Sale Higher, 98% Sold
South Africa’s Cape mohair sale Tuesday offered approximately 850,000 pounds and sold 98 percent.

Water Districts To Initiate Cloud Seeding In West Texas
Facing drouth conditions that have become uncomfortably reminiscent of the 1950s, a group of West Texas water districts and landowners representing some five million acres have decided to use modern technology and their own money to help Mother Nature deliver rain.

Morales Says He Can’t Sue Oprah Guest For Beef Libel
Despite urging from Texas Agriculture Commissioner Rick Perry, Attorney General Dan Morales says he can't use a new state law to sue a vegetarian activist over remarks about "mad cow disease."

"Freedom To Farm" Will Take Attitude Adjustment For Some
The Boening farm near Floresville was a just a few days away from planting cotton this spring when grain prices spiked, hitting record highs.

Shift To Mechanical Harvesting Not Always Easy For Work Stock
In 1919 after World War I, wages went up. Wheat harvest hands were paid $5 a day. I worked at wheat harvest for the Newberry brothers, three wheat farmers east of Kirkland, Texas.

Cooperation, Not Coercion, Recreates West Texas Oasis
Casual visitors probably won't find anything immediately exceptional about the lushly vegetated pond at Balmorhea State Park that so captivates fisheries biologist Gary Garrett.

Conditions Make For Volatile Grain Market, Experts Predict
Record corn and wheat prices are not finding their way into farmers' pockets, says the board chairman of the Nebraska Corngrowers Association, who hopes value of futures contracts hold up to help producers in the fall.

Haying And Grazing Of CRP Acreage Will Carry Strings
Stung by criticism from environmental activists and hunters including the National Rifle Association, USDA moved quickly last week to tie strings to the Clinton administration’s much-heralded opening of CRP land to haying and grazing.

Dole Says Clinton Policies Worsened Cattlemen’s Woes
Senate Majority Leader and Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole blamed decisions of the Clinton administration for aggravating grain shortages and worsening the plight of cattle ranchers.

Dallas Lawyer Facing Cruelty Charges Over Cattle — Again
An international breeder of high-quality cattle who was convicted of animal cruelty in 1988 has been accused again of abusing livestock.

Clinton USDA Staffer "Evasive" Concerning Political Pollster
Republicans in Congress questioned late last week whether a top Agriculture Department official should keep her job after what one lawmaker termed "evasive" testimony about her hiring of a Democratic pollster.

EU Opens Small Crack In Ban On British Beef, Byproducts
The European Commission, seeking to defuse growing tension between Britain and its EU partners, proposed last week to relax the ban on British beef exports by exempting three cattle products.

Feds Propose Forging Ahead With New Mexico Wolf Scheme
Despite united opposition from the stockmen who would be adversely affected, federal bureaucrats apparently intend to forge ahead with their controversial scheme to release wolves in New Mexico.

New Lamb Plant Extends Stock Sales; $3.75 Million Raised
Ranchers’ Lamb of Texas, the corporation which proposes to build a new lamb slaughter plant here, has extended stock sales until June 3.

TPWD Scales Back Proposed Changes In Hunting Seasons
It was standing room only — and even that ran out — here last week when the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission met to take up the issue of changing the state’s hunting and fishing regulations.

Dakota Cattlemen Signing Up For Recall Of Beef Checkoff
More than 2000 cattle producers have signed a petition asking to repeal the $1 per head national beef checkoff, said the president of the South Dakota Livestock Auction Markets Association.

6666 Defends Title In Heritage Rodeo
The 6666 Ranch at Guthrie successfully defended last year’s championship title over the weekend in the 1996 Western Heritage Classic ranch rodeo here.

U.S. Takes EU Beef Ban Case Before
The United States last week asked the World Trade Organization to rule whether a ban on the sale of U.S. beef in Europe violates world trade rules. The ban is directed at beef produced with the help of growth hormones, but applies by default to virtually all U.S. beef because there is little practical differentiation aside from the "organic" niche market.

Texas Fed Cattle Prices Eased Off Late, But Still $1 Higher
Slaughter steers and heifers closed $1 higher last week in Texas Panhandle and Western Oklahoma feedlot trading after midweek sales as much as $2 higher. Most trading occurred on Wednesday and Thursday.

Feeder Cattle Prices Follow Slaughter Price Trend Upward
Feeder cattle prices turned sharply higher across the country last week, most sales $1-3 higher, many places $4-6 higher. Rains and soaring slaughter cattle prices were primary factors.

Angelo Feeder Lambs Soft, Cattle Higher
Feeder lambs sold weak to $2 lower this week, slaughter lambs too limited for a test, slaughter ewes $5-10 lower. Two day receipts totaled 15,981 head.

Junction Feeder Lambs, Stock Angoras Steady
A limited supply of feeder lambs sold steady, slaughter lambs scarce, slaughter ewes $1-2 lower; stock Angora goats generally steady, slaughter nannies and muttons steady to $2 lower, kids and yearlings near steady; Spanish kids steady to $2 lower, others steady. Receipts totaled 4600 head.

Most Cuero Cattle Prices Were Strong
All classes of feeder cattle and cows sold in strong demand, plainer heifers higher. Receipts totaled 2105 head.

Harvey Herefords Average $869 Each
The Harvey Hereford Ranches, Alamogordo, Cloudcroft and Las Cruces, New Mexico, sold 247 Hereford lots in a complete dispersion here for $214,735, an average of $869.37 per head.

Brown Ranch Cattle Average $563 Each
The 10th annual R.A. Brown Ranch Cowman’s Sale averaged $563 on a total of 565 cattle.

Most Giddings Cattle Prices Moved Upward
Feeder cattle sold steady to stronger, some calves and yearlings up to $2 higher, slaughter cows and bulls strong to $1 higher, pairs fully steady. Receipts totaled 823 head.

Brownwood, San Saba, Mason Cattle Higher
Trading was termed active and demand good last week in Mason, Brownwood and San Saba, feeder steer calves selling steady to strong, yearlings steady to $2 higher, heifer calves $1-5 higher, yearlings $2-4 higher, slaughter cows and bulls steady to $2 higher, stock cows and pairs $2-30 higher. Receipts at the three sales totaled 2391 head.

Paleface Ranch Red Brangus Average $1333
A total of 126 bred or exposed 12-20 month-old Red Brangus heifers sold at the Paleface Ranch for an average of $1333 per head.

Fredericksburg Feeder Cattle Prices Higher
Feeder steers and heifers sold $2-3 higher, slaughter cows and bulls $1-2 higher. Receipts totaled 1290 head.

Kansas Direct Feeder Cattle Prices Higher
Feeder steers sold steady to mostly $3-4 higher than two weeks earlier, heifers steady to mostly $1-2 higher. Confirmed sales totaled 4646 head.

U.S. Meat Production 1.3% Below A Year Ago
Total red meat production under federal inspection last week was estimated at 846.6 million pounds, 1.1 percent less than a week earlier and 1.3 percent less than the same week a year ago. Cumulative meat production for the year to date was 2.6 percent more than during the same period last year.

Hindsight

Loose Ends

Unregistered Bull in a Hotel Lobby
Choice gleanings from 45-plus years of Unregistered Bull.
John showed up in the lobby this week after such a long absence he’d almost lost his squatter’s rights on the most comfortable chair. He was sadly behind on world affairs. He said he couldn’t tell you to save his life which political party was ahead in the battle of the generals, or which Congressmen were on foreign tours slaving away on investigation subjects like The Postwar Possibilities of Potato Production in Pago Pago.

On The Edge Of Common Sense
By Baxter Black
The sport (passion, or affliction) of team roping has experienced a terrific boom in popularity since the creation of an association called United States Team Roping Championships. It established a classification system based on the ropers’ skill. It is comparable to the handicapping system used in golf.

Pokin' Fun
By Doc Blakely
A lot of exciting things are happening on the nation’s highways. Truckers and others are matching wits, through CB radios, with "smokies" to beat the 60 mile per hour speed limit for trucks and 70 for cars. The only reason I don't have a CB is because my car won't run 70 ... for an hour. I can go from zero to 70 in about 11 days. If I run over a fresh hunk of gum, I have to call the Automobile Association to send out a specialist from Juicy Fruit with a solvent to separate me from the asphalt.

Shortgrass Country
By Monte Noelke
Taxpayers in Irion County meet a payroll every year of over $583,000 by the time all the extra expenses are tallied. Compared to what a few U.S. Senators cost in salary and benefits, the local courthouse crowd is a big bargain of some 30 people to rule over a county 1000 square miles in size and populated by 1626 registered voters that shrink down to 600 or 700 head at election times.

On Matters Of Equine
By Dr. Jim and Lynda McCall
Eyes glazed over, nostrils flared, right ear laid flat back against the head, left ear clinched tightly between teeth of a savage looking guy — known as a "wild man’s ear twitch," this technique has been used for centuries to subdue the larger, more powerful and more athletic animal known as Horse. It seems hard to imagine that a 1000 pound being can be controlled by applying pressure to such a small external structure, but it is so.

It's The Pitts
By Lee Pitts
Although they are called "cowboys," their favorite animal is not the cud-chewing cow nor the playful puppy, although both species are deeply admired. To real cowboys, and those of the drugstore variety like me, there is just something about an equine.